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No respect for contracts

The BC Liberals have eliminated performance bonuses for Community Living BC management and, instead, rolled that money into their salaries

To the Editor,

Re:  CLBC executives get raises after bonuses eliminated.

Blaming the problem on flawed public perception, the Liberal government has opted to eliminate performance bonuses for Community Living BC management and, instead, roll that money into their salaries giving some executive a nearly 10 per cent wage increase.

This is occurring at a time that public sector workers are being forced to negotiate new contracts under a government-imposed “net zero” or “co-operative gains” mandate, which dictates that any wage increase must be realized from concessions to other parts of  their existing contracts.

In 2011 the BC Liberals defended pension/bonus compensation for then-BC Ferries CEO, David Hahn by saying that it was in the terms of his contract which they were obliged to honour.

Now this government is using the same arguement to justify the raises for Community Living BC (CLBC) executives, saying that “these people have contracts and they are all entitled to be compensated fairly and we have to do what’s lawful”.

When did the Liberals gain such respect for contracts?  It certainly wasn’t in 2002 when Bill 29 gutted health care contracts and Bills 27 and 28 slashed teachers’ contracts.

It surely didn’t exist in 2004 when Bill 37 legislated health care workers a 15 per cent wage reduction and further cuts to their legal contract.

This is simply outrageous!

Nancy Czigany,

Port Alberni